3 cars, all lowered and somewhat limiting with regard to practicality – our own doing, we get that. That road trip to Diablo Lake that Summer confirmed we needed something we could leave the pavement with. In January 2016 we put in a call to Patrick Wallace at Doxon Toyota, a referral from a mutual friend who assured us we would be taken care of. Demand for the TRD Pro Toyota 4Runner is high enough that we were expecting a minimum 4-6 month wait once we put in our order. We even read that dealers across the country were capitalizing on this demand by adding ridiculous mark-up costs over invoice. Before calling Patrick we were told to expect a no-hassle experience and no mark-up so without hesitation and with only a few text message exchanges we paid our deposit. Life would continue while we expected to wait half the year before we would see our new rig.

The 4Runner was one of a few vehicles we had narrowed our choice down to and the TRD Pro checked all the boxes the 2017 VW Golf R, Jetta Sportwagen, Audi allroad, and SQ5 couldn’t – specifically in their off-road capabilities. And of course those were prime candidates for us to alter and further limit their capabilities. (#lowerit) The CC was a great car to drive along those twisting roads leading to Winthrop but some of the places we wanted to explore meant leaving pavement. And what better vehicle can you think of to outfit with a roof rack, roof top tent, lights, and all the doomsday prep equipment needed to escape into the hills with… Reliably… While maintaining value… And available in white?

We got the call in April.

We’ve had it almost a year now and the only thing we’ve done is add some tint to the windows, pushed out the wheels via Spidertrax spacers, install WeatherTech® wind diffusors, and a ton of miles! It’s been an amazing ride and it’s taken us places the other 3 couldn’t dare. Like the top of Keechelus Ridge…

… And through parts of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

The 4Runner has even been great running us around the city without the worry of pot holes, speed bumps, and other obstacles like pedestrians and cyclists. (kidding! … sort of) :D

We couldn’t have picked a better addition to the fleet and we look forward to exploring more of what this beautiful State (and maybe even Country!) has to offer.